Barcelona Zoo giraffe test hints at limited addition ability

A Barcelona Zoo experiment suggests some giraffes may be able to track simple additions, but the evidence is limited. In the reported test, four giraffes chose the correct hidden carrot pile 68% of the time in an addition-style task, while their subtraction performance fell back near chance.

The work, led by Iker Loidi at the University of Barcelona, involved Nakuru, Njano, Nuru, and Yalinga. Researchers used hidden carrot piles to test whether the animals could remember quantities after the food was no longer visible.

The strongest result came from Nuru and Njano, who continued to perform well after researchers removed a possible cue: choosing the dish last handled by a person. Nakuru and Yalinga appeared to rely more on that shortcut, making their results less persuasive.

Editors should treat the headline claim carefully. The sample was very small, the report does not establish broad proof that giraffes can do math, and carrot size or mass could have influenced the animals’ choices as much as counting individual pieces.